Week 8

Cutting floor tile on a wet saw.

Comparatively speaking, this was a fairly slow week. I worked with four of my teammates on finishing up two new builds. They’re going to be dedicated this coming Friday, so we’ve been cleaning, installing major appliances, touching up paint, changing locks, tending to sod, and the like. I got to level out water pipes and the meter in the sidewalk for one of the houses. That sort of stuff has to be perfect, and getting things where they should be was long, tedious work. I perked up when we got to mix and pour the cement though, and we passed inspection, so I felt pretty proud of myself.

My finished sidewalk.

My other big accomplishment was reversing the swing and handles on a refrigerator. Honestly, before being asked to do this, I didn’t realize it was possible. I guess I just figured you bought a fridge that swung to suite your kitchen. Some of the stuff I’m learning is pretty random.

Our new build house is progressing quite nicely.

We also got to see what a Rater does, and helped prepare three houses for energy conservation testing. This is to check the seals and insulation for the houses, the purpose being that if they are properly made, they will get a rating that qualifies them to be stamped Energy Star Efficient. This is a pretty big deal in this day and age, and though we don’t know the results yet, our site supervisor said Habitat houses are usually rated far below what they need to qualify (low ratings are a good thing), so there’s nothing to worry about. They go out of their way to get materials and use procedures that make the houses extremely energy efficient.

Yesterday was our big volunteer day and it was the only day for the whole week that we got to work on our new house. There were a lot of high school student volunteers, and we got quite a bit finished in the morning, and I got to be on saw duty the whole time, which is always fun, but we were rained out in the afternoon. That was a bit frustrating since new construction is my favorite part of the week, but it wasn’t all bad since they let us go home early and I was able to take a substantial nap after participating in team Yoga.

Having just discovered the
existence of grouting bags.

This morning we went to a Black Southern Baptist church, so that was a new experience. We had been invited by a member of the church who works for a non-profit organization in Mobile called South Alabama Cares, whose focus is on AIDS/HIV testing, education, and support. We did some work there a few weekends ago, and the lady invited us to attend her church and then have lunch afterwards. Two of the church ladies prepared a feast for us and it was so good, I almost felt like I was home eating Mom’s cooking.

The pastor had us stand up in the service and gave us a microphone to introduce ourselves and say where we’re from. His sermon was on stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something for the good of your fellow man, and he kept holding us up as examples. He told us afterwards that we are truly an inspiration, and he believes that if young people like us are willing to leave our families and do something to make our country better, then there’s hope for our society.

Everyone at the church made us feel incredibly welcome, and people kept coming up and encouraging us and giving us hugs. The church is quite big, and we found out they have, among other things, a homeless outreach program where they go into the streets and areas they know homeless folks preside and they help them by providing basic health care, dentistry, optometry, etc. I mentioned to the pastor that we’d be glad to get involved if we could help further this program in any way. He said they’d love to have us.

At the church that welcomed us with open arms.

Most of the people on my team are not “religious”, but everyone was impressed by the kindness, caring, and love we were shown. What a great example of what a church should be. Though we all have differing beliefs, we can all agree that serving men in a practical form is the most worthwhile thing a person can do with their life.

Earlier this week I worked with a soon to be Habitat for Humanity home owner. She has 30 more hours of service to complete and then she’ll be finished with all of her requirements for getting a house. Right now she’s living in a holey, rat infested house, and she’s really excited about moving into her new house. It’s so neat to spend some time with people who will be getting the houses we’re working on, and seeing the bigger picture. Some days are boring, and the jobs we have to do are disgusting, or make you sore, or they smell bad, but what it comes down to is that there are good, hardworking people who would be living in horrible conditions for the rest of the their lives if other people didn’t complete these uncomfortable tasks. Thinking about it in this way makes it all worthwhile and even the grossest jobs don’t seem so bad.

The girls with Gary, one of our beloved site supervisors.

Did you ever read that book when you were little called “If Everybody Did”? It was just a short sketched, picture book type deal, and it had all these funny scenarios about every day things and how they would be different if everybody did them. I remember one of them was about stepping on Daddy’s toes, and what if everybody did, and there was a picture of a little kid standing on her father’s toes and him not really caring, and then a picture of hundreds of people standing on his toes, and his face showed great pain, and his toes were stretched to a grotesque length.

Anyway, I was thinking about that book this week, and wondering what our world would be like if everybody did something seemingly small. Like, what if everybody donated a few hours of their time to building houses for people who don’t have a lot of money? Or what if everybody picked up a piece of trash from the ground as they walked down the sidewalk? Or what if everybody bought a second a lunch every once in a while and gave it to a homeless person that they passed on the street? Or what if everybody just took the time to smile at other people as they passed them at work, or in the grocery store?

Showing a volunteer something about decking.

These things aren’t very inconvenient for each individual to accomplish, and yet if everybody did, think of the giant impact it would have on our world. Perhaps that’s a silly notion: just a dream. “But there’s were things have to start—with a dream. Of course, if you just go on dreaming, then it stays a dream and becomes stale and dead. But first to dream and then to do—isn’t that the way to make a dream come true?” (The Wheel on the School by: Meindert DeJong) Changing things for the better doesn’t have to mean leaving home, or changing your routine, or getting up earlier. Just start by smiling at a stranger and take it from there…

How many AmeriCorps members does it
take to screw in a vent cover?